Surveying the American Tropics: A Literary Geography from New York to Rio

For Gesa Mackenthun, who focuses on Lloyd Stephens's exploits in her "Imperial Archeology: The American Isthmus as Contested Scientific Contact Zone," and Nina Gerassi-Navarro, who contrasts the writings of Louis Agassiz with the journals of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz and William James in "The Art of Observation: Race and Landscape in A Journey to Brazil," setting refers to a scientific topography. Mimi Sheller's "Space Age Tropics" focuses on the conflicting modernities-tourist paradise vs. bauxite mining-that the transnational aluminum industry, notably the Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, has helped produce in Suriname, Guyana, and Jamaica. There is, in short, much to admire about Surveying the American Tropics and little to criticize, except for the index, which is too superficial to be useful, and the fact thatthis book is priced out of reach formost readers.Perhaps the future will see a paperback or an e-book edition for a text that would be a valuable addition to many a graduate syllabus.